


Befriend Him

by PenShips



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, and a cute jealous!Barry, westwells
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 08:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8395420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenShips/pseuds/PenShips
Summary: Iris has had it with Harrison’s nonsense.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old, unfinished two-parter fanfic from my blog. Since I'm doing a little reorganising and trying to get back into writing, I figure I'll try and resurrect it.

She’s surprised when Dr. Wells turns to her abruptly and begins speaking. Iris had tried her hardest to avoid him since he came into their world and it had been working until Caitlin called and requested her help at STAR Labs. So here she is and while it is harder to physically avoid him, she has been doing well with not looking or talking to him. So when he leans towards her, Iris consciously shifts away.

‘What is your problem with me?’ he asks, loudly so that Cisco who is doing research at his station and Barry and Jay who are discussing something in a corner can hear.

Iris bites her tongue and continues with her work, sorting through the security feed Caitlin had asked her to comb over. She can almost feel his irritation; it’s coming off him in waves. From the corner of her eye, she can see Barry stepping forward and then he stops, intently watching them. It’s almost as though he’s trying to restrain himself from punching Dr. Wells or waiting to see if he’ll have to restrain her from doing it.

‘Look, I get it. My counterpart killed your fiancé, stalked all of you, killed his mother and killed him,’ he’s gesturing to each person his counterpart has hurt. ‘But that was not me and they’ve all managed to get over it.’

Cisco snorts in the background. ‘I haven’t,’ he mumbles.

Iris still says nothing. She ignores him and continues with her work. Dr. Wells sighs loudly and slams the pen he is holding on their shared work desk. Closing her eyes, she counts to ten and prays that she’ll somehow get the strength to not punch this guy in the face. While he is not responsible for the death of Eddie and countless other innocent lives, he is still rude and pompous and she needs him to be taken down a peg or two.

‘Well, all except Crisco.’

That’s it. She can’t hold it in. Turning sharply and curling her hands into fists, Iris pulls her arm back and delivers a right hook straight to his face. The minute her fist makes contact with his skin, she regrets her decision. It’s been a while since she’s punched any one and her knuckles ache a little from the hit. His face flies to the side, glasses flinging to the floor and Iris is certain that an angry red blotch is going to blossom out from his left jawline-a mark of her impatience. She pulls her hand back and shakes it; painfully aware of the dead silence that has ascended upon the room. Cisco is the first one to break it.

‘Damn girl,’ he drawls out. ‘Respect!’

Dr. Wells turns his head slowly towards her, working out his bruised jaw. He doesn’t look angry, in fact he looks delighted. ‘I suppose you think my counterpart deserves that.’

‘No,’ Iris snaps. ‘I think you deserve it. His name-’ She points in Cisco’s direction. ‘-is Cisco. Not Crisco. Cisco. You walk into STAR Labs and start ordering people around like you own the place. Well you don’t. You know who does?’ She glances at Barry; his mouth is hung open, half smiling. ‘Barry does. You are rude, arrogant and think you know everything, I think it is time you realise you don’t.’

‘Preach,’ Cisco says quietly, punching the air with his fist.

‘I see,’ Dr. Wells says. ‘Well, pardon me for saving your world. I don’t have to be polite to get my results. Kindness and niceness will not end Zoom but you know what will? My knowledge and Barry’s speed.’

‘-and that’s why we can’t be too carefu…’

Iris turns to see Caitlin and Joe halt in their tracks. Both of them are glancing around frantically, trying to gauge what has happened. Joe spots it first and true to form, gives Iris a wide smile. She’s a hundred percent certain that he would have given her a thumbs up if he could but he’s currently holding a bunch of files in his arms. He’s always taught her to stand up for herself and she knows he’s been itching to punch Dr. Wells for a while now. 

‘What happen?’ Caitlin asks.

‘What happened,’ Cisco answers before anyone else could. ‘-is Iris just became my new favourite person. Ever.’

.

Caitlin slides into the seat next to hers. ‘So,’ she says. ‘I hear you punched Dr. Wells. Hard.’

Almost everyone has left STAR Labs; her dad went to the police station, Barry left for his date with Patty and Cisco dragged Jay off to some science function. Dr. Wells is somewhere underground working in Cisco’s workshop, a place-much to the disapproval of Cisco-he’s taken to calling his own. Iris shakes her head, her knuckles aching with the memory of the punch.

‘Yeah, I-er I probably shouldn’t have done that.’

‘Are you kidding?’ Caitlin laughs. ‘I only wish I was there to see it. I think everyone wanted to punch him-including me. And besides, he does deserve it.’ Caitlin pauses, looks around nervously and bites her lips. After a few moments, she leans in close. ‘You don’t trust him, do you?’

‘Not entirely. There’s something not adding up about him.’

She nods. ‘Look, Cisco and I were talking about this and well, it was just a thought but I think it could work if you do it.’

Iris raises an eyebrow. ‘If I do what?’

‘Befriend him.’

‘Befriend him?’

‘Yeah, you know-get close to him, pretend to be his friend, find out what he’s doing when he’s not with us,’ Caitlin says like she’s mentally ticking things off as she goes. ‘I was going to do it but I’ll be in contact with him most of the time and honestly, I don’t think I can keep up that act all the time but you’ll only see him outside of STAR Labs and you won’t be…umm,’ she clears her throat. ‘-good friends with Jay. So he’ll be less suspicious of you.’

‘Good friends,’ she grins. ‘I didn’t know that’s what they were calling it these days.’

Caitlin looks away, blushing. ‘Iris, I-’

She waves her hand. ‘It’s fine. You don’t have to explain yourself to me,’ she says, grin fading as she thinks on Caitlin’s proposition. ‘I just, I don’t know.’

Taking a deep breath, she tries to weigh the pros and cons of going undercover with a man like Dr. Wells. On one hand, if he has nothing to hide then she has nothing to fear and she would have brushed up on her undercover skills as a bonus. On the other hand if he has sinister ulterior motives, she would be placing herself very close to all of it and she could be in real danger but she would also be able to ascertain information that Barry and the team would not have been able to get. Perhaps she might catch him doing something suspicious and save everyone the trouble of growing to trust him.

‘Okay,’ she tells Caitlin. ‘I’ll do it. The last time we let a man with Dr. Wells’ face running around unchecked, bad things happened.’

.

She starts off simple; an apology. It’s a lot harder than she thought it would be considering she still feels he deserves everything she’d given him and more. All the way down to Cisco’s workshop, Iris has been battling with herself but as she arrives by the door, all her thoughts fly out of her brain and she’s laser focused on one thing; befriending him.

Iris raps on the open door and stands in the doorway, waiting for Dr. Wells to acknowledge her. He doesn’t even glance up and it feels like he’s trying to punish her for punching him. Her knuckles itch-she wants to punch him again. She reins it in. This is no time for her personal feuds; she’s got a job to do.

After a long five minutes, Dr. Wells finally looks up, the bruise on his face is faded now but still noticeable. ‘Miss West,’ he greets, solemnly. ‘Come to finish the job? Another punch? Perhaps a roundhouse kick?’

Taking this as an invitation, Iris steps into Cisco’s workshop. ‘No, I’m afraid I can’t do a roundhouse kick,’ she chuckles. ‘I can box fairly well though.’

Dr. Wells raises an eyebrow. ‘I can tell. That is quite a right hook you’ve got there.’

He’s being nice to her or at least very civil. Iris isn’t sure why but she isn’t about to question it as yet. His civility is what is bringing her closer to her goal. She takes another step into the workshop and makes a beeline for Cisco’s computer desk-temporally occupied by Dr. Wells. She stands above him, staring at him as he sits behind the computer and smiles.

‘My father taught me well. He wanted to protect me.’

His expression twists. It’s only for a second and Iris is almost positive that it didn’t happen. ‘Fathers are like that,’ Dr. Wells answers.

Iris fidgets; she can’t believe she’s about to do this. ‘Dr. Wells, I just want to tell you that I’m sorry.’

‘It’s fine,’ he says, standing up. ‘I know I can be irritating.’

‘And overbearing,’ she adds.

‘Yes, I suppose that too,’ he says and pauses like he’s contemplating telling her something. She silently urges him to open up to her. ‘In my universe, my staff had a drinks Friday where they would go out and…umm…, complain about me.’

She winces in genuine sympathy. The man may be an ass but that must have been rough for him. ‘Ouch, how did you find that out?’

‘I was having dinner with a female friend in the restaurant they use to go to. It was more about what a hard ass I was than anything else.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she says.

He shakes his head. ‘The price of success.’

Iris closes her eyes and inhales. She exhales, opens them and fixes Dr. Wells with the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster. ‘I was heading out to Jitters and was wondering if you wanted to join me? I’ll pay,’ she adds, quickly. ‘It’ll be a I’m sorry coffee.’

Dr. Wells licks his lips as though the thought of coffee sounds appetising. ‘Very well, Miss West,’ he says. ‘I’ll take your sorry coffee.’

She internally fist punches the air while outwardly smiling politely. ‘Great! And for the record, it’s just Iris.’

‘Iris,’ he repeats, rolling her name over his tongue. ‘Okay then Iris, lead the way.’


End file.
